{"id":245190,"date":"2021-08-19T03:51:06","date_gmt":"2021-08-19T08:51:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=245190"},"modified":"2023-01-31T15:16:27","modified_gmt":"2023-01-31T14:16:27","slug":"iran-covid-19-crisis-regimes-priorities-are-killing-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/human-rights\/iran-covid-19-crisis-regimes-priorities-are-killing-people\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran Covid-19 Crisis: Regime\u2019s Priorities are Killing People"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"iran-mass-graves-corona<\/p>\n

Iranian state media recently published remarks from\u00a0Alireza Zali, the head of Tehran\u2019s Covid-19 response committee, which confirmed details of the\u00a0regime\u2019s\u00a0failed response to the crisis.\u00a0Zali acknowledged that the regime\u2019s\u00a0authorities had declined to purchase doses of proven vaccines simply because they were averse to the idea of taking on the relevant costs. At the same time, the regime had little concern for the costs involved in its support of regional militant groups or its efforts to build up naval forces and intimidate commercial shipping in Middle Eastern waters.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tehran is willing to allow people to suffer terribly if the only alternative is to abandon its pet projects and potentially halt the force-projection that masks the regime\u2019s vulnerability.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The regime\u2019s unwillingness to pay full price for Covid-19<\/a> vaccines is part of a larger pattern of decision-making that has prevented the country from locking down properly or undertaking other serious mitigation efforts. This week, regime authorities finally announced that they would be initiating a new lockdown, but they also specified that it would last only six days \u2013 not even long enough for new infections to finish incubating before their hosts resume interacting with the <\/span>Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei personally controls hundreds of billions of dollars in assets, many of which are held in so-called religious foundations. <\/span><\/p>\n

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps controls similar amounts via a series of front companies and private sector affiliates. The IRGC<\/a> controls the majority of Iran\u2019s gross domestic product and directs it toward foreign proxies, missile development, and other projects that serve to preserve the regime.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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A look back at the contradictory remarks made by Ali Khamenei and Hassan Rouhani over Covid19<\/div><\/div>
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